Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to snow plows for use with light and medium duty trucks, and more particularly to an improved snow plow with a hitch mounting mechanism and method which enables the snow plow to be easily and quickly mounted to and detached from a truck.
Once the exclusive domain of municipality-operated heavy trucks, snow plows have been used with light and medium duty trucks for decades. As would be expected in any area of technology which has been developed for that period of time, snow plows for light and medium duty trucks have undergone tremendous improvement in a wide variety of ways over time, evolving to increase both the usefulness of the snow plows as well as to enhance the ease of using them. The business of manufacturing snow plows for light and medium duty trucks has been highly competitive, with manufacturers of competing snow plows differentiating themselves based on the features and enhanced technology that they design into their products. Two types of features that are particularly important are the ease of installation (and removal) and features bringing an enhanced level of performance in plowing snow.
In the past several years one of the most important of these features has been the ease of installation of a snow plow. While the first snow plows were bolted onto supports which were typically welded onto the frame of a truck at the front end thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that such an installation mechanism makes the installation both difficult and time consuming. Since snow plows for light and medium duty trucks weigh hundreds of pounds and are somewhat unwieldy, merely getting the snow plow into the proper position for installation can be a problem. In addition, bolting the snow plow onto the supports can also be difficult to accomplish. Even when it is straightforward, it is time consuming and awkward, particularly when done during the winter when the weather is cold.
Thus, it is apparent that one of the most important improvements which can be made to the design of a snow plow is the inclusion of a mechanism for mounting the snow plow on a truck which improves the snow plow installation process. A number of attempts at designing such mechanisms have been made, but they have all been of a less than optimal design. One problem is that many such hitch mechanisms require such a precise degree of accuracy in the interconnection of the snow plow-mounted hardware and the truck-mounted hardware that they are difficult and time consuming to install.
Another problem is that some previously known hitch mechanisms are unduly complex, both in construction and in operation, which means that they are both expensive to manufacture and difficult to operate. Still another problem with some existing hitch mechanisms is that they provide a less than secure and robust connection between the snow plow and the truck. Yet another problem with them is that many of them have mechanisms which are bulky, reducing the ground clearance between the bottom of the hitch mechanisms and the ground significantly.
It is accordingly the primary objective of the present invention that it provide an improved hitch mounting mechanism and method of operating the same which allows the snow plow to be both connected to and disconnected from a truck easily and simply, without requiring tools. It is a related objective of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention that it require no physical effort to connect or disconnect the snow plow from the truck. It is another related objective of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention that the process of connecting or disconnecting the snow plow to or from the truck is so simple and easy to use that it can be done by a single person without requiring assistance.
It is a further objective of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention that it be mechanically simple both in construction and in operation. It is a still further objective of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention that it provide a robust connection between the snow plow and the truck. It is yet a further objective of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention that it be of a construction which provides a high ground clearance between the bottom of the hitching mechanism and the ground, thereby not presenting a problem even when plowing on hilly or uneven terrain.
The snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention must also be of construction which is both durable and long lasting, and it should also require little or no maintenance to be provided by the user throughout its operating lifetime. In order to enhance the market appeal of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention, it should also be of inexpensive construction to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is also an objective that all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives of the snow plow hitch mounting mechanism of the present invention be achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.